Sunny Day Outside Marseilles
by waterlilylf
Summary: Um, three hot guys driving around the French Riviera in a sports car..who needs a plot? 1x2x5 - unmitigated sap. Sequel to the 'Rainy Day' stories
1. Chapter 1

-1Disclaimer - Gundam Wing, and the characters definitely do not belong to me. I'm writing purely for fun and maybe some reviews...

Note - 1x2x5. Little sequel to the 'Rainy Day' stories to celebrate the first day of the Irish Summer actually being sunny!

Whole bunches of (peeled) grapes and dried lavender to Kaeru Shisho, who not only did the editing on this one but contributed the last paragraph as a bonus! Merci beaucoup, chérie.

Warning - Pure, unmitigated sap and undoubtedly a certain amount of OOC. You have been warned...

**Sunny Day Outside Marseilles:**

It was inevitable that Wufei would end up driving once we'd picked up our luggage at Marseilles airport, and we saw the car Quatre had ordered for us; Heero doesn't care what a car looks like once it's fast and reliable and I prefer my motorbike.

The car was brought around to the Arrivals Door by a uniformed valet and I think Wufei thought he'd died and gone to auto-heaven. Quat had arranged a bright red, open-top sports car with luxurious, white leather upholstery.

Heero and I got to try this out first hand, sliding into the back seat while Wufei was still lost in bliss, gazing at the new love of his life like he'd just opened the gate to paradise, and running one hand along the gleaming paintwork.

'When was the last time he looked at either of us like that?' I wondered, as Heero leaned over to buckle my seatbelt, taking his time getting it just so.

'Yesterday morning probably,' Heero considered it. 'When you were eating that choc-ice. I thought he was going to spontaneously combust once you started sucking the last bit of chocolate off the stick.'

'You know I don't like to waste food,' I told him primly, and then grinned. 'And he did drool a bit last night when you came out of the shower.'

Mmm, I'd been drooling myself a bit at that stage. Heero would be irresistible if he were covered head to toe with sackcloth; naked, with his damp hair twisted into all kinds of little swirls and curls, and with that perfect body all warm and fragrant and still gleaming with water, well, he needed some sort of official health warning.

Wufei, who'd finally decided to get into the driver's seat, suddenly remembered our existence, and turned around to beam at us. 'Doesn't one of you want to ride shotgun?'

'We're happy back here,' Heero told him, just a tad smugly. It's weird; given that they're probably the two most possessive guys in the known universe, they're usually quite happy to share. They still occasionally like to score points off each other, though.

'Are we there yet?' I was just asking to tease Wufei; we'd only been driving for about an hour and the seafront villa Quat had insisted on lending us was at least two hours from the airport. The truth was, I couldn't care less if the journey took twice that time; the road wound spectacularly along the coast, with a new prospect of the sea and pine forests at every turn.

Of course, it didn't hurt that I was snuggled up against Heero and we weren't giving the scenery quite the attention it probably deserved.

'At least another hour,' Wufei replied, and then started to say something about the GPS system in the car; it took him a few minutes to realise that he wasn't getting any response and he turned his head to give us a quick glance.

'What are you two up to back there?'

I gave him a faintly apologetic grin; Heero only smirked.

'Sharing is caring, Chang. You get the hot wheels, I get the hot guy.'

Luckily, there was little lay-by overlooking the cliffs just up ahead where he could park the car; otherwise we would probably have ended up stopping for a make-out session in the middle of the road.

'Well, it's my turn now.' He tugged me out of the car, pressed me up against the side and delivered one of those kisses that make my toes curl, my knees crumple and the more sensitive parts of my anatomy clamour for their fair share of attention.

Still holding my hand, he pulled Heero up for similar treatment and I couldn't resist pressing close to both of them and dabbing kisses down the side of Heero's neck while I slid my free arm around Wufei's waist.

'You're getting very adventurous, love,' Heero commented, sounding slightly surprised and definitely approving.

'Must be the company I keep these days,'

'I knew we'd wear you down eventually.' Wufei informed me smugly. 'All those Preventers' courses in interrogation techniques to weaken prisoners' resistance finally paid off, Heero.'

'Oh, very funny. What, I'm your prisoner, now?'

'Just as much as we're yours. You know that.' Heero smiled into my eyes, and I had one of those moments when I thought I'd just liquefy into a pool of goo.

'I think I'm about to die from an excess of sentimentality,' Wufei mocked but he squeezed my fingers gently and reached his other hand up to ruffle Heero's hair.

'I can't believe we're actually here,' I tugged them both over the grass to look out at the sea. It was the most incredible view; dark, purplish-grey cliffs plunging straight down to the cobalt sea, almost the shade of Heero's eyes. 'Look at the colour of the beach down there; it's pure silver. I've never seen anything like that!'

'Mica crystals in the sand,' Wufei informed us; then looked slightly guilty. Hmm. I'd thought I'd convinced them to ditch the portable library of travel guides, all of which had been neatly cross-referenced and colour-coded, but I suspected Wufei had managed to secrete a couple somewhere.

All the way from the airport, he'd been coming out with arcane bits of information; that the flowering shrubs along the roadside were called Mimosas, and that the scent in the air came from lavender and rosemary plants.

'Pity there isn't a cafe or something around here, isn't it? This would be the perfect spot to have breakfast.'

'Your wish is our command, as always,' Wufei smirked. I got another kiss and then he headed back to the car, taking out a couple of blankets and a fancy-schmany wicker picnic hamper.

'I don't believe it! When did you guys organise all this?'

'All successful missions require a modicum of planning.' Heero gave my braid a quick tug and went to join Wufei at the back of the car, taking out a couple of insulated bags and a thermos.

'Wow! What else have you guys got in there? A couple of Mobile Suits?'

'And the dismembered body of that attendant who tried to flirt with you all through the flight.'

Wufei exchanged pained looks with Heero, shaking out a blanket and laying it on the ground.

'He did not! He was just being friendly.'

'Friendly!' Wufei snorted. 'He was being ridiculously familiar. He didn't try to arrange a napkin on any other passengers' laps, from what I saw! Or put their headsets on for them!'

'Well, you didn't have to maim him!'

'I didn't,' Wufei sniffed. 'I merely applied a little pressure to the appropriate nerve ending. He'll be fine in a day or so.'

'A day or so! Seriously, Wu, you can't keep doing that to everyone who looks at me. Remember we talked about the whole possessiveness thing?'

'I remember you talked about it,' he said pedantically. 'But you were naked at the time, so it was hard to concentrate on what you were actually saying.'

'Fine! Next time, I'll wear my leather coat and then maybe you'll actually watch my mouth for a change.'

'We always watch your mouth, love,' Heero grinned, rummaging in the trunk and producing a basket of fruit. 'And that leather coat of yours is very sexy. Especially when you have nothing on underneath it. Now, are you ready for breakfast? I think everything's ready now.'

'I can't believe you guys went to all this trouble,' I marvelled.

They're always coming up with new ways to spoil me; but this was something, even for them. Heero was on his knees, unpacking a gleaming array of crystal, silverware and delicate porcelain from the huge wicker hamper, while Wufei had laid out juices, croissants, baguettes and pastries along with a selection of fresh fruit.

'It's never any trouble to make you happy,' Heero looked up at me, the smile in his eyes shining as brightly as the sun. It still floors me, sometimes, that the Perfect Soldier who'd once used his emotions for target practice could turn into such a sap.

Wufei sniggered, probably thinking the same thing as me. 'Well, obviously, we knew you'd prefer a can of soda and a Snickers bar but we thought you might be willing to slum it, just this once.'

'I suppose I could humour you for now, once you don't make a habit of it,' I sighed, flopping down onto the blanket.

'Of course, if you really wanted to spoil me, one of you would be feeding me hand peeled grapes, and the other would be holding one of those big fans so I don't get too hot and sweaty.'

Maybe not the best choice of words.

Heero popped a strawberry into my mouth and kissed the tip of my nose. ' We like it when you get hot and sweaty. The hand feeding idea might be fun, though.'

'One way to get him to eat his daily intake of fruit,' Wufei agreed solemnly, slicing a ripe peach into segments. Of course, I had to suck the juice off his fingers after I'd eaten the first slice and then Heero had to have a turn.

'We know you need regular meals to keep you happy and satisfied.' Dear Gods, Wufei had actually picked up a bunch of luscious purple grapes and was carefully peeling one.

'Mmm. 'Course, food isn't the only thing I need to keep me happy,' I - purred. I'm not sure if that was quite the correct word; I'd never known I could make a sound like that; low and husky and utterly seductive to judge by the reaction it had on the two of them.

No, purring was the right word on second thought. Both Wufei and Heero pounced on me from opposite sides. I was covered with sexy male scent, smothered in rough kisses, pounded with hard, cut bodies. And I'm certain there was a little tooth and claw in there someplace.

Later, stretched out in the sun, sleeping off the meal and activity, there was a definite contented, animal aura hanging in the air. Yeah, it could have been anywhere under the sun, but it was on a cliff top overlooking the Mediterranean, an hour's drive from Marseilles and on a sunny morning that I got mauled for the first time in France.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Disclaimer - they, pretty obviously,don't belong to me.

Note - thanks to KS for editing,

**Chapter Two:**

OK, I'd known all along that Quatre's house in France wasn't going to be some wooden shack on the water. The place blew my mind all the same.

Heero got used to staying in fancy places when he was acting as Relena's bodyguard and 'Fei grew up as the only son of a rich family and they seemed to take it all for granted; from the marble columns and the fountain in the hallway - sorry, the _atrium _- to the master bedroom, which had two walls composed of floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked out over the sea.

You could lie on the bed and see nothing but blue, where sea merged dreamily into sky.

And the bathroom?

Wow.

We have a pretty nice bathroom at home; the guys had had one of the spare rooms converted when they'd first bought the house and it has a walk-in shower as well as a bath, but it certainly doesn't have palm trees or an entertainment system or a tub you could swim that would probably be plenty big enough for my first swimming lesson.

I wonder sometimes how Trowa lives with all this luxury on a daily basis.

I was fifteen years old when I first saw a real bathtub; at one of our safe houses. At the Maxwell Home, there'd been an old tin bath that only the little kids fit into properly, and on Howard's ships there'd been showers. Otherwise, I hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to the whole personal hygiene idea.

'Duo! Aren't you ready yet?' Wufei called, pushing the bathroom door open. 'What are still you doing in there?'

'Getting ready to go swimming,' I turned away from the window and he burst out laughing.

'What one earth are you wearing?'

'Swimming trunks. You guys said you'd give me a swimming lesson, remember?'

'Let me guess, a present from Howard?'

'Yeah.' Howard had gone on a cruise to Hawaii a few months before; he hadn't' enjoyed it all that much - as the only single straight guy on the boat, he'd spent most of his time hiding from all the widows and divorcees who were looking for a new man in their lives. Still, he'd come home with a whole new wardrobe of polychrome shirts and I'd got a pair of swimming trunks that I was wearing for the first time; bright yellow bananas swirling around a dark blue background.

'You do realise we're the only three people here, don't you? And that Heero and I have no problem with you going without clothes for a few days?'

'I guess.' It was - weird, still; the way those two were so unselfconscious about nudity; it wasn't exactly taboo or anything on L2 but generally showing off too much flesh meant it was for sale. Solo had drummed it into me as a kid that it was safer to keep covered up, just in case.

It had taken a while for me to get comfortable with stripping off in front of them, and they could still make me blush, sometimes, just by looking at me in a certain way. The way 'Fei was looking at me, in fact.

'The thing is, ' I tried a joke to cover it up, 'I don't know how much you'd concentrate on teaching me to swim if I weren't wearing anything.'

'Good point. Although we could probably teach you _something_,' his voice dropped slightly, becoming just that little bit huskier. 'And those shorts could look very enticing clinging to your wet ass…'

He reached out and reeled me in by the waistband with one hand. It was actually easier to press against him than have him looking at me like that, and be kissed 'til we were both breathless.

'We should go down to the pool,' he said finally, 'Or Heero's going to come up looking for us both, and then you'll never get your lesson.'

'Can't we swim in the sea?' I asked a bit plaintively.

'Not just yet, love. It'll be easier to teach you the basics in the pool; tomorrow we'll go in the sea.'

'Cool.' OK, slightly awkward moment passed. 'I just need to take the last of my meds.' I showed him the little black-and-purple pill before tossing it back with a swig of water and extravagantly flinging the empty box into the trash.

'Now you guys can stop fussing over me like a couple of old grannies, agreed? All pills gone, Duo restored to perfect health.'

'Good,' Wufei smirked. 'Now we can kiss you without tasting those things every day.'

'What about me? I'm the one who had to swallow the vile things.'

'They worked though,' he pulled my braid gently. 'You haven't had a coughing fit since we left home, and the heat here should be good for you as well. You look so much better, Duo. You're even finally starting to put on some weight.'

'You're saying I'm fat?'

'Of course not! But you were nothing but skin and bone for weeks after you came out of the hospital,' he slipped an arm around my waist, pulling me against him. 'You don't feel fragile any more.'

'I feel better,' I confessed, letting myself lean back against him.

'Mmm, you feel absolutely perfect from here,' he murmured, the hand that had been resting at my hip sliding just a little lower.

'You feel pretty good too,' I rubbed gently against his hip, making him catch his breath. 'And I'm fine, really. Perfectly healed and ready to get back to work as soon as we get home.'

'Duo, before you make any decisions, can we just talk about this?'

'Don't, 'Fei. Not now, OK? I'm an agent, you know that; it's what I do. I don't intend to give just because I caught a cold.'

'Double pneumonia, which developed into pleurisy and an infection of the lungs,' he pointed out relentlessly. 'A long hospital stay and five courses of antibiotics, because the first four didn't clear it up. And Sally said your immune system is still way below par.'

Pedantic asshole.

'Whatever.' I muttered, managing to bite out my irritation that they'd been talking about me to the Preventers Chief Medical Officer. We'd had that one out before, several times, and it hadn't done me any good.

'No one's asking you to give you up your job, Duo. Just to consider that you're not on your own anymore; that anything you do affects Heero and me as well.'

I nodded, a bit jerkily. 'I know. But it's my job, 'Fei. It's important to me.'

'Can I tell you something?' He pulled me over to the couch - oh, yeah, there was a couch all covered with prettily fluffed-up cushions by the window - and settled me against him.

'When Heero and I first got together, we were so determined that nothing was going to change at work; that we could keep our personal and professional lives totally separate.' He laughed softly, tickling my ear. 'We didn't tell anyone at first; we didn't see that it was anyone's business but ours. We had to tell Une a few weeks later when I messed up an undercover mission by calling his cellphone to see if he needed back-up. He'd been five minutes late checking in and I just panicked; turned out he'd been in the middle of negotiations and my call spooked the guy we were trying to nail.'

'Une went ballistic that we'd screwed up a sting that had been in planning for months. We were both officially reprimanded and told that we couldn't continue working as partners, and that was the worst thing of all, because we didn't trust anyone else to watch each other. It was a nightmare, watching him take missions and knowing I wouldn't be there to protect him if something went wrong. Does that make sense?'

I nodded against his chest, imaging it. Seeing either - both - of them go out the door, and not knowing when or if I'd see them again. I'd - never thought of it like that before.

They'd both resigned as field agents long before I'd come back to Earth; that had been nearly as big as a shock as finding out they were a couple. I'd thought Quat was playing some sort of practical joke when he first told me.

'It took us about three months to realise it couldn't go on like that; of course, neither of us wanted to be the one to admit defeat. In the end, we both recognised that we just couldn't do it anymore. Of course, it didn't help that the new partners we were assigned kept asking for transfers because we were hell to work with.'

'I can imagine,' I muttered.

'I'm not saying you should resign from your job, lover. Just be a little bit more careful, OK? It was bad enough seeing you take missions, when we were just friends.. I don't know how we'd cope if anything happened to you, now.'

'I'll try,' I squirmed slightly in his lap. I'm not much good at this emotional stuff, at having to reassure someone. Heero's always understood that more easily than 'Fei; Heero was another kid who'd grown up pretty much alone, without a family to depend on. Without anyone to worry.

'Good enough. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything you don't want, but just don't forget about us, hmm? '

'I won't,' I promised. 'I couldn't. Now, are you going to take me down to the pool and get me all wet or do we just stay here and practise in the giant bathtub?'


	3. Chapter 3

-1Note - As always, thanks to KS for proof-reading.

**Chapter III:**

'Heero, you're hurting me,' I muttered, flinching as his hands began to touch a particularly sensitive spot.

'We told you you'd have to be careful your first time,' Wufei told me crossly. He always snaps when he's worried about something. 'You didn't use nearly enough lotion; of course it's going to be sore.'

'Is this helping at all?' Heero wondered, his hands smoothing feather-light strokes down my sore back, only just touching the skin as he rubbed the cream in.

'A bit.' I pressed my face into the pillows of our bed and tried not to wince too much. 'I swear, I am never going to do anything like that again.'

'Of course you are,' Wufei, on the opposite side to Heero, began to rub the back of my neck. 'Just give it a day or two, and we'll make sure you're properly prepared the next time. You wouldn't feel anything like this sore if you'd taken the proper precautions. Heero and I are both fine.'

'Well, you've both done this before,' I groused, feeling a bit mean for taking it out on them. I'd had a long lecture earlier and it had all gone straight out of my head.

'You'll live,' Heero said briskly. 'We brought this cream specially, just in case this happened. It should stop most of the burning sensations you were talking about.'

'Mm, I think it's working,' I mumbled. 'That's actually starting to feel good, once you don't press too hard.'

'Poor baby.' Heero bent down to kiss the back of my neck. 'I'll be careful, but we've got to do this or it'll just get worse.'

'Good,' Wufei approved, and gave me a light slap on the ass lightly. 'Don't ever do anything that stupid again, Duo, understand? Lying out in the afternoon sun without proper protection. No wonder you got burnt!'

'Ow! I did have on sun screen,' I defended myself. 'You guys even put it on for me.' I think they'd used up a whole bottle, in fact, before we'd gone in the pool. I'd vaguely thought of reapplying after my first ever swimming lesson, but after I'd convinced them to go snorkelling together, I'd settled on one of the sun-loungers, opened the book I'd brought with me, and promptly fallen asleep.

It's damn hard work, trying to stay afloat and actually move all your limbs at the same time. At the end of the first hour, I'd been able to swim from one side of the pool to the other, using what Heero had christened the Duo-paddle. OK, it maybe wasn't as elegant as the way they swam, but it got me around.

'You need to reapply every couple of hours, especially when you've got such fair skin, and you're not used to the sun.' Wufei chuckled suddenly.

'Excuse me? This isn't funny!'

'Of course not. But seriously, the only part of you that isn't bright red is your ass, where you had those ridiculous swimming trunks covering you.' He squirted lotion into the small of my back and began to rub it lower down.

'I thought you said I wasn't burnt there!'

'You're not,' I could hear the smile in Heero's voice, 'but we wouldn't want that particular part of your anatomy to feel left out, would we?'

'Or unappreciated,' Wufei purred, 'because it's not, is it, Heero?'

'Definitely not.'

It was - enjoyable at first, now that my skin had stopped feeling like it was on fire. Soothing, more than anything; with just enough edge to keep me from dozing off. Of course, it didn't take long for the vaguely clinical touches to become lingering caresses, and then the slick fingertips that had been skimming over my buttocks slid a little deeper between them, ghosting over - that place and back again.

'Stop!' I half-reared off the bed in alarm. 'Don't do that!'

Then Wufei was grasping my shoulders and urging me gently back down to my pile of pillows. Heero was gasping apologies, sounding utterly stricken; he must have been the one who'd tried to touch me.

It was the first time they'd tried to do anything quite so blatant - down there. Not that I hadn't been kissed and licked and nipped on my ass, but I'd always tensed up when they'd tried to get more intimate and they'd just backed off and moved on.

'Sorry,' I muttered, burying my head in the pillows. 'I just wasn't expecting you to do that. I'm sorry.'

'Shush,' Wufei soothed, coming to sit beside me and stroking my hair. 'Duo, listen a minute. Can we talk to you about something?'

He waited long enough before speaking that I shifted slightly under his hands, tilting my face to look at him. 'What is it? Have I done something wrong?'

'Of course not! It's just - we worry sometimes, when we do something you weren't expecting, and you react like that, like you're scared of what we'll do next.'

Oh.

I suddenly realised what he meant, and suddenly a few little things clicked into place. Just little things they'd said or done, or very conspicuously not said or done.

'It's not that. I swear. No one's ever hurt me like that. Honest.'

'Are you sure?' Heero pressed gently.

'Look, I think I'd remember if I'd been raped!' I snapped. 'You really thought that had happened to me?'

'Relax, love,' Heero kissed the top of my head. 'Wufei and I have read the files on L2, but you know the stories firsthand. You know the kind of things that can happen.'

'Yeah.' It hadn't happened, not to me, but of course I'd heard things. Seen things at firsthand that I 'd been powerless to stop. I'd been lucky but I'd come too damn close a couple of times. Close enough that, even if I hadn't been out fighting a war as a teenager, I probably wouldn't have been interested in the whole experimentation phase. Sure, I'd fantasised about Heero during the war, and for a couple of years afterwards, but if he'd tried anything I probably would have freaked out and run.

'Thank God for that,' Heero said suddenly, fiercely and Wufei wrapped an arm around him, and I reached up to touch his face.

'Baka. You could have just asked me, you know. If you've both been worrying about this.'

'We couldn't help wondering, love.' Wufei slid one hand up and down my braid, the way he does when he wants to reassure himself I'm actually real. 'It's obvious that you aren't comfortable with certain things, and that just seemed like the most obvious explanation. You do know we'd never pressure you into anything, don't you, that we'd never want you to anything you didn't like?'

'Of course I do.' I think it was the sheer need in his eyes that made me go on. 'It's just - I honestly don't know if I like it or not, really. I've never done it like that.' I swallowed. 'Not properly.'

We'd shared a bed from the very start when I'd moved in with them; there'd always been some kissing and touching and cuddling. It was only in the last couple of weeks that we'd started to go beyond that, and it had usually been in pairs. Heero and I would take a long bath together on Wednesday nights, when 'Fei held a martial arts class for the kids of Preventer agents, and then curl up on the couch together, and on Saturdays Wufei and I had a lie-in while Heero went to meet Relena for breakfast.

Maybe things would have progressed a bit faster if I hadn't managed to get sick; for weeks afterwards they both treated me like I was made of porcelain eggshells. The first time the three of us had really been properly intimate together had been the night before our flight to Dublin. I still couldn't quite believe what we'd done earlier that morning, on a cliff overlooking the sea.

'Never?' Wufei pressed. 'What about with Dylan?'

I took a deep breath. 'He was raped when he was just a kid; it was his stepfather. It went on for a couple of years 'til he ran away. There was no way he'd let me touch him there, and he'd refused even to consider doing it to me, hurting me like that. He used to have these nightmares. I - I do know, logically, that it doesn't have to hurt, but I just remember him screaming, the look in his eyes. We fooled around but nothing too heavy. The thing is, most of the stuff I'm doing with you guys, I've never done before.' Another breath. 'I know it's stupid, but I just have this idea in my head that it has to hurt.'

'Oh, love.' The hug was pretty damn awkward; they were both trying to hold me as close as possible and at the same time not touch any sunburnt skin.

'It doesn't.' Heero leaned back a little and looked straight into my eyes. 'I swear, Duo. You know you we wouldn't lie to you. It's - not easy, the first few times, but if you're prepared properly, it's more discomfort than pain. And then it starts feeling good, and then it's better than good. We can show you, if you'd let us. That it doesn't have to hurt?' Heero asked quietly.

Oh.

I could feel my face flaming again.

It wasn't like they didn't know they - did that to each other, but, ever since I'd moved in, they'd been careful to do it when I wasn't around.

'I - I don't know,' I faltered. Part of me, the part that had felt excluded from that special thing they shared, was jumping up and down and cheering; the other part was - remembering.

'Not like that,' Wufei gave me a slight smile. 'I don't think you'd enjoy it very much, not right now. But you could watch us? If you liked.'

OK, it was apparently possible for my face to get even redder. I mean, I'd seen them kissing and sucking each other off only a few hours ago, but this was different somehow.

'Please?' Heero added, giving me that appealing little look I swear he stole from Quatre. I'd never been able to resist it on Quatre and I certainly couldn't on Heero.

'What would I have to do?'

'Just watch, if you like,' those blue eyes gazed imploringly into mine. 'Whatever you want.'

'All right,' I had to say it quickly, before I changed my mind and panicked.

That won me a long, open-mouthed kiss, his tongue massaging mine until my thought processes were starting to leave the bed and fly off into orbit.

'I'm starting to get jealous over here, you two,' Wufei was smiling slightly, watching us, and Heero bit my bottom lip gently, before pulling away and subsiding on the bed beside me, drawing Wufei down on top of him.

'Do me, 'Fei. Please,' he begged when he'd finishing kissing the living daylights out of our Chinese partner, That was a surprise; for some reason, I'd imagined it would be the other way around. Or there'd be a strict system of turns. Probably stored on a one of their laptops and regularly updated.

'All right, but just because you asked so nicely.'

It started slowly, with just 'Fei covering Heero with what looked like the softest, sweetest kisses imaginable. Nothing that I hadn't seen before. Heero started to moan as 'Fei moved further down, just low little sounds of utter bliss that intensified when began to kiss his cock, mouthing his balls and nuzzling his inner thighs.

'Duo,' Wufei asked, raising his head suddenly. 'Do you know what 'rimming' means?'

'Um. Sort of.'

Yeah, of course I knew. I'd seen the sites on the internet, seen a few porn movies. But I didn't know people did stuff like that in real life.

I couldn't really see what he was doing, to be honest, but I could see Heero's reaction, going from blissed-out to - something else. Something more. He'd stopped moaning, was murmuring incoherent strings of words; just _yes_ and _God_ and _fuck_ and _stop_ and _deeper _and_ 'Fei.._

'I'm going to come if you keep that up,' he gasped, one hand sliding down his chest to stroke himself.

'Hands behind your head, Heero!' Wufei rapped sharply, swatting him, and a little shiver trickled all the way down my spine, as I tried to imagine obeying orders issued in that commanding voice. He'd never spoken to me like that. 'You're not going to come until I'm inside you.'

Heero's brows snapped together as he obeyed, folding both hands in place and actually pouting. God, he was irresistible like that, and I had to reach out and touch, stroking sweaty bangs off his face.

'Hmm, I think someone's starting to get lonely all by himself,' Wufei grinned at me, eyes glinting. 'Are you OK with this so far, Duo? Good.' He leaned over and kissed the tip of my nose. 'I'm going to start getting him ready now. Can you hand me a couple of pillows, love? There's lube on the table beside you.'

He slid the pillows under Heero's ass, raising it off the bed, and took the tube I handed him.

'All right?' he asked, watching my face closely. 'You know there are seven bedrooms in this place; we can move if this is making you feel too uncomfortable.'

'All right so far,' I said resolutely, shifting a little on to my side and taking the hand Heero was stretching out to me. His face creased as the first finger slid inside, and I squeezed his hand in mine.

'It's OK,' he reassured me gently. 'It stings a little bit at first, that's all. It's fine now.'

'What's it like?' I asked, almost reluctantly.

'It's - hard to describe.' He tensed, very slightly, as the second finger moved in, and then relaxed. 'Amazing. Like nothing else in the world. Different to how a cock feels, but really good. Just feeling him move inside me, touching me there, feeling stretched; it's incredible.'

'There are a lot of nerve-endings there,' Wufei glanced up, speaking in his best professorial tone. 'It's very, very sensitive, and that's even without going near the prostate.'

'Don't do _that_, or I will come,' Heero warned.

'Not just yet,' Wufei removed his fingers, coated them in more lube and started the whole process again. This time, he worked up to three fingers, going deeper, and Heero started to move against him.

'Just a minute, baby,' he crooned. 'Soon, I promise.' He looked over at me. 'You see, Duo? You're not sore, Heero, are you?'

'I'm about to explode!' Heero growled, and Wufei chuckled.

'Not just yet,' He slid his fingers out, smearing more lube on himself, and bending down to kiss our partner. 'You feel incredible, baby. So hot. Like you're going to burn me alive when I fuck you.'

'Just give me the chance!' Heero growled, spreading his legs wider and letting Wufei kneel between them.

Oh, God. This was it; Wufei hooked one arm around Heero's waist and raised him off the bed slightly.

'We need to get the angle just right,' he informed me, but otherwise they were intent on each other. It was - different to how I'd imagined; sure, I knew the mechanics of the act, I knew went where, and the different ways it could be done, but I'd never guessed the tenderness of Wufei's expression as he looked down at Heero, or the look on Heero's face as he was entered. That little sigh of satisfaction as he took it all; Wufei's gentle murmurs of encouragement.

And they were so focused on each other; just the two of them. They'd had this for years, before me.

'All in now, baby. How do you want it?'

'Hard,' Heero gasped, gripping my hand so hard it hurt. 'Fast. Screw me 'til I can't walk!'

'Demanding, aren't we?' 'Fei pulled out and slammed back in, thrusting hard enough to drive Heero's body back almost to the edge of the mattress. I could hear the slap of flesh into flesh, hear Heero's breath catch at the onslaught, hear Wufei's growl of triumph as he sheathed himself fully, and I couldn't watch.

Then Solo's voice was reverberating around my head, telling me stories of what happened to kids who let men do _that_ to them, so I'd never_, ever _be tempted, no matter how desperate I was, and Dylan was screaming as he woke from yet another nightmare, and Heero was crying out…

Oh, God. Heero. I was upright before I'd even thought about it, not sure what I was going to do except help Heero, like I'd never been able to help Dylan or Solo or any of the other kids, and it was the look on his face that stopped me.

Oblivion. Completion. Union.

'You came?' I asked stupidly, as if I couldn't see the evidence for myself. The room smelt of sex, cutting through the tang of the sea breeze.

His mouth quirked slightly. 'Absolutely. You know, fireworks, earth moving, whole constellations of stars doing the tango?' He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed each finger in turn. 'It's glorious, love. The best feeling in the entire world.'

'Too kind,' Wufei smirked at me. 'Now, Duo, we're going to take a quick shower and then we'll introduce you to the delights of the post-coital cuddle.'

'OK.' I lay back on the bed, watching them walk to the bathroom, Wufei with one arm around Heero's waist and Heero walking just a little bit awkwardly, and suddenly envied them. Suddenly wondered if maybe I'd let them show me again. And maybe do more than watch the next time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer - I don't own any part of Gundam Wing, and I'm not getting any profit from this.**

**Chapter 4:**

When the three of us are together, I almost always end up in the middle.

They know I'm not too comfortable with public displays, although I seem to be getting over it, and they've always respected that. Not that they don't touch me when we're out; they do, all the time. They just find discreet ways to do it.

A hand on my arm to point out something in a shop window; a quick tug on my braid to emphasise something one of them is saying. I get a light slap on the ass if they think I'm lagging behind and they've both turned arranging a napkin on my lap into an art form.

Trips to the cinema are the worst; I'm inevitably given the popcorn to hold, and every time they reach in for a handful, a caress lands somewhere in the general area of the bucket. They've started groping for stray kernels lately; I have a long list of movies I need to rent on DVD because I've no idea what happens at the end.

If we're on the couch at home, I invariably end up in someone's lap, usually Heero's, so he can play with my hair. He's utterly incapable of leaving it braided; sure, he'll start off just running it through his fingers, but then somehow the hair-tie disappears, and he has it spread it out over his hands.

Wufei is the one with something of a foot fetish. Heero doesn't actually like having his feet touched, so I'm generally on the receiving end. I tease them sometimes that if they ever resigned from Preventers, they'd could set up their own spa, providing foot and hair treatments.

In bed, I'm almost always in the middle. I have been from the beginning. I actually couldn't sleep like that at the start; it was just too weird being having two warm bodies curled around me, instead of having a bed to myself. It's not as if they're particularly restful to sleep with; Wufei likes to drape himself around whoever's closest to him and hang on for dear life and Heero falls asleep with one hand either tangled in my hair, if he's managed to pull off my hair tie; or wrapped around the base of my braid, if I've miraculously managed to keep it braided.

It's got worse since I came home from hospital; like they can't _not _touch me constantly just to make sure I'm really there. It's another one of those little reminders of how much I must have scared them both, that they thought they were going to lose me. It's made me bite my tongue, quite a few times, when I wanted to snap at them to stop babying me and just leave me the hell _alone _for two minutes.

That's why it was so weird waking up on our first morning in France with Heero in my arms, and no sign of Wufei.

I don't get to watch Heero asleep very much; he usually wakes first, and goes down to switch on the kettle for Wufei's morning tea. I had move very slightly, to relieve a cramp in one leg; something that would normally have him awake instantly, but he just murmured something and shifted slightly closer. It was - nice, just lying there, and being able to watch him; to study the crazy way his hair grows out from the crown, that tiny scar just above his left eyebrow that he'd got on some Preventers mission, the one Wufei always kisses when he comes home; the way his skin already had been gilded by the sun after just one day.

I couldn't resist reaching out and smoothing the hair back from his forehead, and then I noticed on the tiny purple mark that had blossomed on his collarbone, and another on the side of his neck. That hadn't happened while I'd been watching them last night.

They'd been in the bathroom for nearly thirty minutes, far more time than they'd needed for a quick wash. I'd pretended to be asleep when they eventually came back to the bedroom, and sneaked little glances under my lashes. They hadn't come straight to bed, as I'd expected. Wufei had taken Heero's hand, and led him over to the windows. They'd spent the longest time just standing there, watching the gleam of moonlight on the water.

So beautiful together, the two of them. So perfect. I knew all I'd had to do was make a noise, even move slightly, and they would have gathered me into their circle. It had scared me once, observing them together; their completeness in each other. Made me wonder what the hell I was doing with them, why they'd wanted me.

Poor Duo, who tried to make his own life, and ending up losing his boyfriend and his business and scuttling back to Earth and doing all the things he'd sworn not to do, after the war.

Like joining Preventers. Being put in a position where I would have to take life. Or intruding on what was between those two. I'd seen something happening between them, when we were all imprisoned on the lunar base. It was a surprise, how long it had taken eventually for them to get together after the War. They'd emailed me fairly regularly, with news of their promotions and new assignments, but never anything too personal.

Quatre had met them sometimes, if he had business on Earth, and I'd known from him that they were partners at work and close friends, but nothing more.

I'd had to wonder, sometimes, if I'd imagined anything between them, just totally misinterpreted the situation. I'd actually been considering a trip to Earth for myself, when Quatre 'phoned me to let me know they'd finally hooked up. After that, I'd thrown myself into work and met Dylan. I could always find an excuse to refuse their invitations to visit Earth, and I'd been non-committal enough when they suggested a trip to L2 that they'd only offered once.

I still couldn't believe it sometimes, just couldn't take in this equation of three that somehow seemed to add up to the perfect total.

Three of us, together in a moonlit bedroom, and as I watched they crossed over to the bed, arms entwined. Heero was the first to slide into bed, and I made myself move just a little as his body curled against mine. Wufei got in beside him, bending to kiss his forehead; the little gesture somehow far more intimate than everything I'd witnessed earlier.

It hadn't occurred to me, at the time, just how controlled they'd been together.. Like they were performing an elaborate pattern of dance steps, for my benefit, when really they might have preferred just to let the music swirl them off and invent their own dance. Sure, they'd done everything I'd ever imagined, but there'd been a system to it, stopping at every stage to reassure me and ensure I wasn't too uncomfortable.

'Good morning, love,' Heero murmured, breaking into my thoughts.

''Morning, 'Ro. Are you all right?'

'I should be asking you that, shouldn't I? You're the one who got sunburnt yesterday.'

'And you're the one who got….' Oh, I broke off there. Hadn't quite meant to say it like that.

'Screwed?' Heero suggested, smiling a little.

'I guess.' I scrabbled under the pillows for my watch, trying not to look as flustered as all that. 'What time is it? Where's Wufei?'

'It's not six yet,' Heero slid an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. 'He's gone down to make some tea.'

OK, on the surface it was a reasonable enough explanation; once awake, Wufei needs that first cup of tea to function.

But...Heero was nuzzling my neck while he spoke, not there was anything wrong with that, but it meant he hadn't had to look directly at me.

Aha.

'So,' I asked casually, 'how come you drew the short straw?'

'What do you mean?'

'You know; how come you got picked as the one who has to talk to me and check I'm not too freaked out after what happened last night?'

He just gaped at me; it wasn't quite yet bright enough to see but I would have bet he was blushing at being found out. Then he gathered himself together and looked at me directly.

'Well? Are you too freaked out?'

'What do you think?' I made him wait for a minute, not giving anything away. Damn, I hate it when they try to manage me. I wondered how they'd decided to let Heero take this particular job, and when.

Then I saw the expression in his eyes; fear and doubt and that sort of stricken guilt at what he - they - might have done.

'I'm still here with you,' I assured him quickly. 'It's OK; you haven't scared me off. You're not getting rid of me that easily.'

'Don't make jokes about it, Duo, please.' Then he was suddenly wrapped all around me, arms and legs twining about my body as if he could anchor me physically in his life.

'Sorry,' I muttered. I never mean to hurt them; it still scares me that I have that sort of power over them, just by saying or doing the wrong at the wrong time. 'I'm still not very good at this.'

'Baka,' Heero murmured, 'you're perfect. Utterly perfect.'

I had to snort slightly at that. 'You're a misguided, deluded sap. You and Wufei both are.' I kissed him. 'Luckily for me.'

'You're really OK with everything?'

'Yes, I promise I'm not going to run away screaming the next time you two get together. 'Ro, can I ask you something? Something personal?'

'Of course.'

'When you two are …together, is it always 'Fei who, ah, you know?'

'Tops?' He looked faintly amused at the question. 'Not always, no. We switch around.'

'What, like you have a rota or something?'

That seriously made him laugh, 'til he saw my face. 'It's nothing like that, Duo. It's hard to put into words. Sometimes it just happens. I think Wufei likes being on top a little better; I don't really have a preference. It's always incredible.'

'Oh!' It obviously wasn't going to be necessary for me to acquire a sun-tan; I seemed to be wearing a permanent blush these days. 'I just thought, you know, you're such a control freak.'

'Not always,' It was his turn to colour slightly. 'Sometimes, it's good just to give up the control, to someone you trust. To let them take charge for a while. Does that make any sense?'

'I guess. I - ah - can't say that I want to do it myself right away but...'

'You don't have to,' Heero said hastily, the words tumbling over themselves. 'You know that. Not everyone likes it like that, and it's not like we ever expected that you...'

'Never?' I asked mournfully, unable to risk teasing him a little. 'Are you trying to say you don't want me like that? That you don't find me attractive?'

'Let me show you just how attractive I find you?'

It was one of those kisses that started off slow and gentle and gathered momentum along the way until I felt like every single nerve ending in my body had been intimately touched with his tongue or lips and set alight. One of his hands was knotted in my hair, and the other was torturing each of my nipples in turn. Lying pressed together, I could tell just how badly he wanted me.

'Charming,' Wufei commented from the doorway. 'I go to make you both breakfast and when I come back you're making out without me.'

There was a little smile hovering about his lips, though, that suggested he wasn't really as pissed off as all that. That maybe he was rather enjoying the show.

Heero lifted his mouth from mine, not in any particular hurry about it, and smiled. 'I was just giving Duo a little demonstration of how very attractive I find him.'

'Ah,' Wufei's smile broadened as he crossed the room, placing the tray he was carrying on the bedside table. Three porcelain cups with matching saucers held steaming cups of his favourite Chinese tea, which I can't even pronounce, let alone spell. There was also a little dish of lemon wedges for them and a jug of milk for the Western philistine who still doesn't know the proper way to drink tea. He's so - proper, sometimes. On L2, I'd owned a chipped enamel mug; tea tastes pretty much the same whatever you drink it from.

Oddly, it was easier to take a moment to concentrate on the tray rather than on 'Fei. It was stupid; he was still the same person, still 'Fei, but something had shifted, just a little, the previous night. Made me look at him differently. It was hard to see him now without remembering the way he'd been with Heero. That he'd been able to reduce our controlled, assertive partner to a puddle of longing and make him beg for more. And that voice he'd used to order Heero around… I was still getting the shivers whenever I thought of that, and of the fact that Heero - Heero! - had obeyed instantly.

God, I'd heard him sound like that on missions sometimes, never imagined he'd use that voice in bed, or that Heero would let him get away with it. The predatory, possessive look on Wufei's face when he'd looked down at our Japanese lover had been a revelation, as was the sheer, absolute trust on Heero's, as he waited to be taken.

I'd never really thought of Heero as being the submissive one; thought that maybe he'd put up with it on occasion out of general principles of fairness and equality, but not that he'd lie there and flat out beg for it.

Actually, it was kind of hard to imagine either of them giving up that much control, but especially the Perfect Soldier.

So much I still had to learn about the two of them.

'Was it ever in doubt?' Wufei wondered. Heero had tugged him down to kiss, and he gave me a quizzical glance once he was let up for air.

'We were discussing last night,' Heero elaborated. 'I was telling Duo that we'd never force him into anything and he decided to start fishing for compliments.'

'Did he now?' Wufei lay back against the pillows and held out a hand to me. 'I think Duo knows we'd never pressure him?' He made it a question, as his eyes met mine, desperately seeking reassurance.

'Of course I do!' I took his hand, and a deep breath simultaneously. Damn, I didn't want this to happen; didn't want things to go back to how they'd been months ago, when they'd both been so obsessively careful with me. 'Look, can we just talk about this now and not have to keep getting into it?'

He nodded, not entirely surely.

'OK. You both know how I grew up? I saw a lot of stuff that kids shouldn't ever have to see, let alone go through, but nothing ever happened to me personally. I was one of the lucky ones.' I couldn't help a little shiver, thinking of just how lucky I'd been, and Heero laced his fingers through my free hand.

'I didn't experience anything at firsthand, but there were a couple of...near misses. I was lucky,' I echoed, speaking more to myself than to them. 'What I'm trying to say, is that I _don't_ have any negative experiences, not personally. You've both got way more experience than me, but I'm not exactly a shrinking virgin. I don't mind trying - stuff, if you just let me take me it slowly. I know you'll stop if I'm uncomfortable.'

Damn, this was so bloody hard to say. 'But I don't want you both tip-toeing around me, OK? Or sneaking off to have cosy little discussions about me in private. That's not fair. If you've got something to say, just say it.'

'Agreed,' Wufei said firmly, with a definite glint in his dark eyes that suddenly made me very aware that I was naked. 'I think you two have just proven just how much you're attracted to each other. I, on the other hand, am starting to worry that you don't find me remotely appealing and I think maybe you need to remedy that, Duo. Come here.'

He didn't even give me a chance to obey, to notice he'd spoken to me in _that_ voice, just jerked my hand until I was sprawled all over his lap.

'Is that some sort of challenge, Chang?' From somewhere, I'd managed to replicate the low purr I'd first produced the previous morning, that sound they'd both seemed rather susceptible to.

Leaving my hand in Wufei's, I sat back a little, tossing my hair back over my shoulders. Oh, yeah, something was making certain parts of Special Agent Chang sit up and take notice, whether it was the way I'd spoken to him, or just the fact that I was half in his lap, and naked, with my hair loose.

'Is that you want it to be? A challenge?'

'Maybe.' I bent forward, very deliberately, and licked a trail up the side of his neck, ending where he'd given Heero that little love-bite. 'Maybe I was feeling a bit left out myself, last night, when you took 'Ro off for that little session in the bathroom.'

Ah. It's very satisfying, sometimes, to catch him a little off balance, to remind him the world isn't always going to perform precisely the way he's planned it.

'Heero didn't tell me, if that's what you're thinking; he didn't need to. I do know how long it takes to shower. I am capable of noticing the fact that you decorated Heero with a couple of hickeys, and there's a bruise on his hip that he didn't have last night.'

'Duo...' he began, and I cut him off by pressing one finger against his lips, twisting my head a little to glare Heero into silence.

'You heard what I said earlier, right? I don't need you guys protecting me from anything, and especially not from the two of _you_, OK? Before you came in, I was telling Heero that I don't need to be - _humoured_ when it comes to this stuff. If I'm not comfortable with something, I'll let you know. You've always been able to pick up on that in the past, and I trust you both. And I swear, I'm not going to swoon or run off screaming if I see the two of you together. So, can we move on from this and just enjoy our vacation?'

'But, what if...' Heero started to say.

'What happens, happens,' My shrug was just that little bit more casual than I actually felt. I wasn't sure if I was quite ready for that, not just yet. 'You've never had a problem with reading my signals before; I don't think that's going to change.'

I think Heero maybe made a move to say something at that point, because Wufei made a 'shut up' gesture with the hand not holding mine.

'You heard Duo, love. He wants us to stop fussing over him.'

'Absolutely,' I agreed, moving my hand and letting my fingertips trail down his chest, just brushing warm velvet skin lying so smoothly over steely muscle. 'No fussing. Just...enjoying for a change.'

'Accepted,' Wufei said huskily, his breath catching as I grazed his nipple with my thumb. Damn, but he's beautiful. It still seems a privilege that I get to see him naked on a regular basis, let alone actually touch. It was Heero, moving up beside us, who pinned Wufei's wrists above his head with one hand. 'We agreed this was Duo's turn.' Then I shifted to one side as he bent down and proceeded to kiss the shit out of 'Fei.

'Are you just going to sit there and watch again, Duo?' Heero looked up at me, one hand still tangled in Wufei's hair. 'We're going to have to start charging you spectator fees at this rate.'

I gave my head a slight shake, spurred on by that little gleam of challenge in Heero's eyes. 'I was just letting you take your turn.'

'It isn't about turns, Duo.' His grin broadened. 'We can share. There's enough of him for both of us.'

'Sharing is caring,' Wufei growled, pulling himself up one elbow to look at us. That actually made me smile; it's what Sally says to her three-year-old twins when they're fighting over a favourite toy.

'I think we can all manage to play together without quarrelling, don't you?' Heero teased me. 'If that's what you want.'

'Is it…what you want, Duo?' Wufei let himself sprawl wantonly as he spoke, all pale gold skin and tumbled jet-black hair, sprawled deliciously on snowy-white sheets.

_God, of course I wanted him. _

_He'd been an unattainable dream for years; they both had. And now I had them both in bed with me, and I wasn't entirely sure how to proceed._

'Hey, you.' Heero leaned over suddenly and pressed a kiss to my lips, mostly chaste except a deft flick of his tongue before he withdrew. 'You're the one who wanted to get on to the enjoying, right? Can you remember what we did to you yesterday morning?'

I ducked my chin in a quick nod. I wasn't sure I could exactly remember the component parts of what had happened; just the heavy scents of lavender and rosemary and sex, and the caress of sunlight, and then the feel of those two gorgeous, hard bodies worshipping me.

Oh, we'd been together, all three of us, on several occasions now, but it had always been one - or rather two - sided so far, with Heero and 'Fei devoting themselves to me first, and only then concentrating on each other.

'Good,' Heero caressed my cheek with one hand. 'We want to make 'Fei feel like that, love. That's all. You know what he likes, right? Or have you been wasting all those Saturday mornings I left the two of you alone?'

'No.' It came out rather stronger than I'd intended, a definite answer to the slight challenge in Heero's voice. 'No, we haven't.'

'Certainly not,' Wufei agreed, holding one hand to me, moaning as I kissed the palm, letting him feel just a little dab of my tongue, and then sucked each finger in turn into my mouth.

Watching us intently, Heero groaned, taking Wufei's other hand, and letting himself be pulled down for what looked like a full-on, no-holds-barred kiss.

Twining my fingers in 'Fei's, I licked my way down the underside of his arm, savouring the feel of him, and then found that precise little spot under right his ear where a kiss invariably reduces him to jelly.

'Ah, you've found one of his sensitive spots,' Heero lifted his head slightly to smile at me. 'Did you know he'll do anything in the entire universe if you just suck on his earlobe?'

I fastened my lips around that little bit of soft flesh, sucking gently and was rewarded by a low moan, cut off abruptly as Heero captured his mouth again. It was one of those long, open-mouthed kisses that go on for ever, happening only a couple of inches from my lips. It was utterly impossible not to shift position, lying full-length against 'Fei and letting him feel my erection, before leaving his ear and nibbling along his jaw line.

Heero had pulled back from the kiss a little, and oh God, it was impossible not to slide my tongue against his, until we were kissing frantically across Wufei, who had twisted one hand in my hair to keep me in place.

'You see, baby?' Heero let me go and tossed me a wicked little grin. 'You're getting the hang of this already.

'Move, 'Ro. We were going to share him, remember?' He shifted to the side, obligingly enough, and I slid on top of Wufei, letting my cock brush against his in the process, sending little jolts of lightning searing along all my nerve endings. 'Fei tasted of Heero, and early morning tea, with just a tingle of toothpaste, meeting each stroke of my tongue with a thrust of his hips.

_Fuck. _They'd had passionate sex at least twice the previous night, and they have way more self-control anyway. I wasn't going to last much longer if this kept up.

'You two look so incredible together.' Heero slid one hand between us and wrapped his fingers around us both, squeezing very lightly. 'But we're not ready to finish this quite yet.'

'We're not?' I asked dazedly, far too conscious of how he was holding me, and how Wufei's cock twitched against mine whenever Heero's fingers applied that little bit more pressure. ''Ro, please…'

'Not…quite…yet,' he echoed. Those strong, talented fingers dealt me one last, passing caress and then he gave my ass a light whack. 'Don't be so selfish, Maxwell. We're concentrating on 'Fei, or have you forgotten that?'

Wufei made a low, incoherent noise, deep in his throat, suggesting he wasn't too happy with this new turn of events.

'Now now, love,' Heero admonished him. 'Aren't you always telling me that patience is a virtue? Duo, shift over. Let's see if we make the stoical, strong-willed Agent Chang beg for it, hmm?'

As it turned out, our controlled partner was no match against a two-pronged pincer attack launched from opposite sides. Heero sucked and bit and tweaked his nipples hard enough to inspire muted swearing and sighs and a great deal of delicious squirming beneath us. I started lower down, kissing the soft, soft skin of his inner thighs, all the way down to his feet, lapping my tongue along his toes and back up again.

'Heero, _please_,' Wufei begged raggedly, his breath coming in gasps. 'Duo, I can't…'

'Can't what, my heart?' I teased, dropping my head just low enough for my hair to sweep against his groin and watching his face contort with desire. 'This?' I thought he was going to come from the very first touch of my tongue against his shaft.

'I _said, _not yet, honey,' Heero pressed a last kiss to Wufei's smooth, golden chest and slid lower, wrapping the fingers of one hand around his shaft. 'We do this together, OK? And Duo, you might want to use a little of this.'

Oh God. He was holding the little bottle of lubricant.

'Oh! But I wasn't going to…do anything like that.'

'I know you weren't. It just makes it a little easier, that's all; if you'd to do a little exploration. Saliva's OK, but it dries too fast, and you don't want to rush things, not your first time.'

'I wish one of you would bloody well do something,' Wufei growled. 'I am actually here, you know. And I'm about to spontaneously combust.'

I squirted a good dollop into the palm of one hand, coating my fingers carefully, and trying to work out what to do next and not sure of the protocol. Should I just get on with it, or should I ask Wufei if he was OK with me shoving my hand up his ass? It hadn't been an issue last night, but then Heero had been lying there and begging for it, whereas Wu was just - lying there.

'Just go slow at the start, Duo,' he murmured. 'Heero's the one who likes it rough.'

He was trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing, and pretty much getting there, but there was a flicker of some other emotion in his eyes as he looked over at Heero, who was gently stroking the hair back from his forehead. He was scared too. Heero'd even told me this wasn't what he preferred, and he was lying there for me, trusting me that much.

'I won't hurt you,' I leaned forward to press a sweet, soft kiss to his mouth, feeling as if someone had taken my heart in both hands and squeezed. 'I promise, 'Fei. I won't do anything you don't want. I'll just touch you there, if that's OK? Nothing else.' I hadn't meant to do even that much, but I kept remembering the way Heero had reacted to being touched like that, last night and the sheer pleasure on Wufei's face as he did it. Dear God, I wanted to see what it felt like for myself, to see if I could give Wufei that sort of pleasure.

Swallowing Wufei was easy, with Heero's wrist still firmly wrapped around the base of his erection. I darted my tongue against his fingers to make him moan, and then pulled back, flicking my tongue lightly against his slit, and then swirling it around his shaft.

Wufei was writhing against us both, panting raggedly, and flexing his hips to drive himself deeper into my mouth; not something I'm that comfortable with yet, but really, he could only go so far with Heero holding him. And each movement lifted him just that little bit higher off the bed, and suddenly it was impossible not to go just that little bit further.

He was smaller and tighter than I'd expected; he'd done this before after all, but the molten elastic heat somehow swallowed my finger and, oh, dear God.

It did feel utterly incredible. Heero's other hand had found my cock, and was finding a rhythm to stroke to that matched the pulsing of Wufei's body, and I jabbed my finger a little deeper, forgetting to be gentle. Wufei screamed my name, just enough warning for me to draw back a little, so his climax didn't flood my throat.

Heero's grip on me tightened until I lost my last ragged vestige of self-control, and exploded over his hand. 'Fuck,' he gasped, '_Fuck! _You two have no idea how hot you looked like that.'

He was looking pretty damn hot himself, actually; smearing my cum over his own erection and working his fist up and down. Wufei raised his head a little to watch; lying with my head on his thigh and with his fingers gently threading through my hair, I marvelled that he still had the capacity to move.

It didn't take Heero long to come, collapsing on Wufei's other leg, and leaning in for a Wufei-flavoured kiss.

'That was amazing. Duo, my love, you are one _hell_ of a fast learner.'

Wufei mumbled something that sounded like agreement, his eyes already drifting shut.

'Time for a nap, don't you think? Heero suggested, 'and then we can clean off in that colossal bathtub and maybe make each other all sticky again?


	5. Chapter 5

-1Warnings: Sap, angst, reference to Bad Things in the past.

Pairings: 1x2x5

**Chapter 5:**

I don't normally end up having to wait for them; it tends to be the other way around. Not that I'm habitually unpunctual, but more that they're somewhat obsessive about being early.

I wasn't complaining this time. I was quite happy leaning against our borrowed sports car, and wondering about my chances of sneaking off some time to take her for a spin. Wufei would let me drive if I asked, of course, but he'd so obviously fallen in love with the thing that it seemed a little bit mean to deprive him of the pleasure.

'Ready to go?' he called, hurrying out the door and closing it behind him. He was looking - wow. He didn't usually wear bright colours, and I'd never seen him in that particular shade of red before. He didn't normally go in for sleeveless, skin-tight t-shirts.

'Would you like me to ride shotgun this time? We should be heading off now; if we're going to make our lunch reservations.'

He tossed me the keys and I was in the driver's seat with the keys in the ignition before I realised we'd forgotten something. Or someone, more precisely.

'What about Heero? We're going to make him run behind?'

'He's decided not to come.'

'What? Why?' I killed the engine and reached for the door handle.

'Duo, wait.' Wufei put one hand over mine. 'He's decided to stay here, and he wants us to go without him.'

'What's wrong with him?' I jerked his hand off. 'If he's not feeling well, of course we're not leaving him by himself.'

Wufei sighed, giving me a long look. 'He's not sick, just tired. If we stayed with him, he'd pretend he was fine and he'd only wear himself out giving you swimming lessons or something. If he we're not here to impress, he'll have to rest a little. I think he needs some time to himself anyway. Now, are you going to drive, or shall I swap seats?'

'I'll do it,' I pressed the security code and swung us out through the gates. 'So this is like - my first lesson in Heero management or something?'

He laughed softly. 'Something like that. You know how hard he works, Duo.'

I had to snort at that; talk about people inhabiting fragile glass houses and firing off guided missiles!

'I'm not that bad. I know I get too involved in my cases, but I do know when to switch off. I don't think Heero does; I think he dreams computer programs and has nightmares about viruses attacking his systems.' I laughed obligingly.

'He needs to learn to relax, Duo. You're good for him, you know; he's been so laid back since we started this holiday. For the last few weeks, he's been trying to do all of his work from home and take care of you. If he's not watched he'll work himself into the ground.'

'I'm sorry,' I muttered, feeling the sharpest stab of guilt that I hadn't realised. Of course, I'd seen him on his laptop, but I hadn't realised what he was doing. I'd just thought he was keeping himself amused while I was taking a nap, or watching a movie he didn't want to see. 'That was all my fault.'

'Nonsense,' he said crisply. 'As if we'd let anyone else take care of you! And once Heero has his computer, he can work anywhere, so it made sense for him to be the one to stay with you. He needs some rest now, though; that's why I asked Quatre to lend us the villa for a week, before flying on to Paris.'

I nodded, automatically pasting on the bright smile that had become second nature now whenever they mentioned Paris. Another misconception; I'd thought that had spending time here had been mostly for my benefit; a nice, quiet place for Duo to recuperate. I was really going to have to stop thinking of myself as the centre of the universe.

'Heero's fine,' Wufei said reassuringly, misreading the expression on my face. 'He just drives himself too hard, you know that. Sometimes, the best thing is to try to get him to the point of sheer exhaustion so he recognises he needs to take a break.'

I blushed, slowly and thoroughly, putting a few little things together; the little show they'd put on for me; what had undoubtedly happened in the shower. Heero's tiredness that morning; his comment about how he sometimes needed to give up control.

'So - last night - was that what it was all about?'

Wufei sighed. 'Last night, most - all of it - was about me wanting Heero and Heero wanting me. I hadn't actually planned on having an audience,' he smiled, very slightly. 'That was his idea and it probably surprised me just as much as it did you.'

'Oh.' It was oddly nice to realise that they hadn't planned it between them; hadn't sat down and discussed the best way to introduce me to the joys of three-way sex. Then that threw up a whole new worry. 'I'm sorry. I hope you weren't too uncomfortable, having me there.'

He snorted. 'Did I look like I was uncomfortable? Honestly, Duo. You find the oddest things to worry about.'

'Yeah, well,' I muttered something incoherent. After all, I was pretty much the newbie here; they'd been shacked up for a couple of years before I'd come on the scene. And there was still this nagging little voice that occasionally suggested that Wufei might not necessarily have wanted me to break up his cosy little romance with Heero; that he'd only gone along with it because it was what his partner had wanted.

He just laughed, obviously enjoying my blush. 'There should be a side road on the left-hand side up here.' He started telling me about where we were going; apparently it was vineyard that also had a small gourmet restaurant. Quatre knew the owners and had arranged reservations for us; I got the impression that said reservations weren't normally all that easy to come by.

I let him rattle on about how the place had won all sorts of awards and such. Part of me was still thinking about Heero, and feeling guilty for abandoning him. But I could see Wu's point. No way would Heero Yuy admit to needing a day off.

I could see how maybe he'd want some time to himself too. Of all of us, he needed that solitude sometimes. I think it was partly the way he'd been brought up, while the rest of us had all had _some_ sort of social contact, he'd been raised by a reclusive assassin, and then thrown in a lab. Sometimes he just needed to be by himself, and he hadn't had much of a chance lately, having appointed himself as my full-time carer.

The other part of me was thinking it was a little bid odd, just me and 'Fei going off for the day without Heero. Sure, he'd spelled Heero in hospital visits, and looking after me to give Heero a break, but I couldn't think of a time in the last couple of months when we'd consciously decided to spend time together, just the two of us.

Lunch was wonderful, even if I didn't really recognise much of what I was eating. There was some sort of shellfish stew, and something that might have been lamb, and a crisp pastry filled with some velvety lemon filling.

After we'd tried to pay, and been politely informed it had been taken off by Monsieur Winner, the waiter invited us to take a walk around the estate.

'Would you like to do that, Duo? It's still early.'

'Well, it sounds nice, but we should probably get back to Heero, shouldn't we? Check he's OK?'

Wufei shook his head. 'I sent him a text while you were in the bathroom, and he hadn't replied. He's probably asleep. Come on.'

He stood up and there wasn't really any way I could refuse. Not that I wanted to, exactly; I'd just been feeling a bit guilty about leaving Heero all on his own. But then maybe I should feel guilty about not spending time with 'Fei either? It was just the way things had worked out lately; Heero had been devoting so much attention to me that I'd been trying to encourage the two of them to do stuff together. I'd never meant 'Fei to assume that I'd been avoiding his company or anything.

'There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about,' he mentioned as we wandered down a shady laneway.

Oh _fuck. _

'What's wrong?' I tried not to sound as worried as I felt. What if he felt none of this was working out? Admittedly, it seemed strange after what we'd done the previous night, but maybe he'd thought about it, and decided it wasn't what he really wanted. Or maybe he was pissed with me for not realising Heero had been working himself into the ground?

'Nothing's wrong, love.' He slipped an arm around my waist and guided me a little off the path. 'Not now. I just want to talk about something that happened during the war.'

OK, that wasn't what I'd been expecting. Not remotely.

He didn't say anything for a few minutes, and the two of us just meandered down this little path between neatly-trimmed high hedges, which opened out to reveal the most amazing sight.

'What is it?' It was some sort of flower; and the field looked like a shimmering lake of purple and mauve and lilac.

'French lavender.' He pulled a stem and brushed it against my cheek. 'It's the exact colour of your eyes, Duo.'

Oh.

Heero's usually the one who pays extravagant compliments, but Wufei can do a pretty good job when he chooses.

We wandered around the edges of the field, pulling quite the bouquet as we went, and just soaking up the peace and the sunlight, and the lazy hum of bumblebees, and eventually finding a nice place to sit, where we could rest our backs against a handy tree trunk.. I was starting to think that perhaps he'd decided to drop whatever it was that he'd been planning to talk about, when he spoke.

'You remember when we were in that cell on the lunar base? The three of us?'

'Of course.' It wasn't something I tried to think about all that much; partly for obvious reasons, and partly because it was the first time I'd realised that there was - something - between the other two.

'I don't know if you remember this, but there was one day, when I was pulled out by a couple of the guards.'

I nodded, still not entirely sure where he was going with this. We didn't talk about the war very much. 'It was one time when Heero was off on a test flight. They wanted to interrogate you, right?'

We were sitting close enough that I felt his whole body give a weird little shudder, and put an arm around his shoulder. It's odd, sometimes, to feel that he's actually just a bit smaller than me.

'Not exactly. They said it didn't matter what they did to me; that I was only going to be executed anyway, and I wasn't important. That it was just a little perk of the job, getting to play with prisoners.' His voice, telling me this, was so damn controlled, that I could almost feel the effort he could make not to let this get away from him.

'They didn't,' I breathed, not sure if I was pleading with him, or God, or the universe.

Please, please, let - _that_ - not have happened to him. Not our proud dragon.

He shook his head, and I started to breathe again. 'They didn't get the chance to go that far. I never knew how he found out, but Trowa stopped it.' He didn't say how far it had gone, though, and I didn't want to ask. This was his own particular nightmare, and I wasn't going to force him to relive a second of it. I was going to make damn sure that I bought Trowa a hell of a good present home, though.

'It just seemed - easier to pretend that nothing of the sort had ever happened, that they'd only wanted to question and that was all. Gods, Duo. I'd been so arrogant, so sure that nothing they could do would touch me. That I could withstand any abuse; any torture they chose to inflict.'

'I never knew,' I whispered.

'I never wanted to tell either of you. But Heero heard me later that night, after you'd fallen asleep; I'd thought you were both asleep, actually, and he guessed what had happened.'

I nodded, not entirely sure if I'd ever be able to tell him that I'd been awake too. I'd heard him cry out in his sleep, a sound I'd never thought Chang Wufei would make, but before I could move, Heero, who'd been closer, was beside him.

I'd never known what it was all about 'til now; I'd tried so hard to keep my eyes shut, but I hadn't been able to block out the softly murmuring voices, or the image of Heero with his arms around Wufei.

He shook his head, soft dark hair whispering against my cheek. 'I thought that - we should tell you, so you'd be prepared. That you had a right to know what might happen. Heero refused. He said he thought you'd had some sort of bad experience in your past, and he didn't want you to have to deal with that.'

'I just remember you two being so close, in that cell,' I told him quietly. I don't think I'd ever felt lonelier in my whole life than that night, and that was saying something.

I'd known, really, that I'd never had a chance with Heero. I'd fallen for him the first time we'd met, but that was the occupational hazard of being gay, right? Falling for the straight best friend? In some ways, it had made it easier to dream about him; knowing it was just a crush on my part and nothing would ever come of it.

Seeing him with 'Fei that night had turned things into a whole other ball game. Ahem. No pun intended. Finding out that Heero wasn't just gay, but that he was already taken; that I'd never had a chance.

'I still feel so ashamed of how I reacted. Such weakness on my part. I would have done anything, told them everything, to get them to stop. I begged them; I can still hear my own voice sometimes in my dreams; so pitiably weak. I know that Heero,' he hesitated, 'Heero would have been stronger.'

'You don't,' I denied. 'Thank God, nothing like that ever happened to him, but you can't tell how people are going to deal.' I turned my head to look at him. 'And for the record, you weren't weak. I remember you in that cell the next day; you told me you'd been roughed up a bit, but you never once let me think that anything else had happened.' I picked up his right hand and kissed it gently; remembering the injuries he'd had after that night. There'd been a burn mark, right in the centre of his palm. 'I think everyone falls apart in that sort of situation, but you pulled yourself together straightaway. More than I did when it happened to me.'

'Duo, you said last night that you'd never…' he looked horrified.

'I know. And it didn't but I came damn close.' I took a deep breath; I'd never actually said this bit to anyone out loud before. 'Some guy nearly caught me in an alley when I was twelve or thirteen. I - I managed to get away, but I had nightmares for ages.'

I could still feel it sometimes; that sharp bite of fear.

'I swear, I holed up in an old cellar for days after that. I was terrified he'd still be there, waiting for me. You are … so much stronger, 'Fei. I remember them tossing you back in the cell with us, and you pretending nothing had happened. I knew that was a lie, I knew they'd beat the hell out of you, but I never suspected there was anything else. I saw what they'd done to you, love, and you never broke,' my voice dropped to a whisper. 'I think they pulled you out 'cause they knew you were strong, that they'd have a challenge.'

'Heero…says that.' His voice was just that little bit unsteady.

'Then it must be true. You know Heero is always right.'

He offered me a faint smile. 'Well, he thinks he is. Duo, I just thought you should know, since we are becoming more intimate.' He looked away from me, studying the stalk of lavender he held in one hand. 'If I should….react badly to anything you try to do, it will not be because of you. I wanted you to know that.'

'Oh, 'Fei. You do know I'd never hurt you.. Never. Love, is that why… after the war, it took you and Heero so long to hook up?'

He shrugged. 'Part of it, maybe. I'm not sure. I think it was hard for both of us, at the start, adjusting to our new lives. Things were complicated enough; and I suppose we didn't want to risk losing each other as friends. Also, Heero was interested in someone other than me.'

'Relena, right? I used to think that as well.'

'Gods, Duo. You can be so impossibly dense.' His voice was so full of sheer affection that it took me a minute to work past that to what he'd actually said.

Oh.

'You mean…me? He never said anything! Never!'

'He never had a chance, had he? After the War, you took off to L2 like a squad of mobile dolls were on your tail. He tried to contact you, several times, and in the end, he assumed you were straight, or just not interested in him.'

Oh, shit.

That sent so many things whirling through my head that I actually clutched his arm for support.

Heero had wanted to be with me, from the start. All those wasted years when I'd tried to convince myself that taking off was the right thing; easier than seeing him with someone else. Or maybe they hadn't been wasted. I'd set up a business, all on my own some, I'd provided employment, helped to rebuild the poorest the colony in a small way. I'd met Dylan.

I wondered if it had hurt Wufei knowing he was Heero's second choice; if maybe he'd resented even the little bit of contact Heero had had with me after the war. Or maybe he'd been secure enough by that stage not to mind.

'What?' Wufei was looking at me with the weirdest expression. Doubt and worry and affection and a teeny little bit of fear. It made me wonder what my own face looked like. 'Duo, it's not like I - took him from you or anything. I swear.'

'I know that!' I guess that came out firm enough for him to relax. 'I think things probably worked out OK in the end, you know. Considering we both got the guy and all?'

It was - sort of weird, trying to imagine what my life would be like if Heero had declared himself all those years ago. To be totally honest, a part of me would probably have panicked. I'd pretty much accepted the being gay part, wasn't really ready to start working out the practice though.

His smile was a brief lift of his lips, but it looked real. 'We did, didn't we? And maybe we should go home and check on him now?'

'Sure.' I let him pull me to my feet. ''Fei, can I ask you something? When you guys got together, did it take long before you could let him - you know?'

He nodded. 'It took time. I think it would have, anyway, even without what happened. I'd been brought up to believe homosexuality was wrong, and I needed to get past that conditioning as well.'

'But it's …OK now?' I pressed. 'I mean, Heero said that you take turns, right?'

I thought he was going to give himself a hernia, he started to laugh so hard. 'Take turns?' He demanded. 'Is that what he said?'

'Um. No, maybe that was how I called it. Look, I'm still so damned new to this, all right? I don't know all that much about how most gay couples operate, much less our set-up. It would be a hell of a lot easier I had a list of guidelines.'

He burst out laughing. 'Maxwell, you've never read a rule book in your entire life. I think, for this, that there are no rules. I'm sorry; it's just that you fit in so well that I forget you haven't always been with us.'

'Really? I think that's one of the nicest things anyone ever said to me.'

'Really,' he assured me. 'I promise you, letting Heero love me is …considerably more than OK. Not that I'm suggesting you try it until you feel ready or anything, but … I hope you will let us, one day.'

I gave him a brief nod. I'd seen Heero's face, after all, seen that particular joy and I knew I wanted to try it at some point.

'Uh, 'Fei, one other thing. You said, last night, that Heero likes it rough, and I just wondered, um, …'

His smile did this weird metamorphosis into a smirk. 'He doesn't like being whipped, if that's what you're wondering. But try slapping him on the ass the next time we're in bed, and see what happens.'

Oooooh-kay. Time to banish that scary image of a leather-clad Wufei brandishing a whip from my head. 'What, like he'll try to kill me?'

'Ah, possibly not.' The smirk got…smirkier. 'Try it, Duo. Heero quite likes a certain amount of domination.

'Just as well,' I grinned at him.. 'It looks like he's going to have to get used to being the idea of the house sub, after all, at least for the time being!'

'I don't think he'll mind, somehow.' We were just coming back out to the estate when he pulled me back out of sight. 'Don't worry too much about what I've said, please. It happened a long time ago, but as I said, I thought it was something that you should know.'

'I … appreciate that,' I said carefully, meaning it, more or less knowing what it had cost him to tell me. I wasn't sure if he really wanted me going back over it though, so I just wrapped my arms around him and smooched the hell out of him. Promising myself that I would try harder to be there for him, after he'd given me that little glimpse into his past. That I'd try harder to open up with both of them.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: None of the GW characters belong to me…

Note: Many thanks to KS for inspiring this chapter, months ago, with a certain comment on another story, and for editing.

**Chapter 6:**

'No.'

'Duo. Just try it.'

'What part of 'no' do you not understand, 'Ro?'

He just laughed at me. 'You said yesterday that you wanted to be more adventurous.'

'Yeah, well, I wasn't talking about stuff like that. Didn't you get the memo that I'm not a girl?'

'Oh, I got that one all right.' He gave me a long, up and down appraisal. 'Come on, love. Just this once?'

'No.' That one came out with just a little less conviction.

'Please. Wufei would love it.'

'Wufei would die laughing.'

'Oh, I promise you he wouldn't laugh.' Heero informed me. He was still smiling, but some part of his mind had obviously slid away to some memory. Some memory the two of them shared and I didn't.

'You do it then.'

'I will if you will. How about that?' Shit, I knew I was a goner when he give me _that _smile. People think Quatre's the one with the killer smile, but Heero can beat him hands-down when he tries.

'You're joking!'

He shrugged. 'It's no big deal. You're not on L2 anymore, you know. This is Europe. Anything goes!'

'Fine. Fine. Whatever. Anything to shut you up.'

'Duo, if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to,' he back-pedalled hastily.

'Nah, I'll survive. But you're going first, and I get to choose.' He looked just a shade wary at that, and I could tell he was dying to make certain….specifications. 'That's the deal. Take it or leave it.'

'Agreed.'

We even shook on it, much to the amusement of the two girls who'd been watching the whole exchange. Before I'd even agreed, they were already laying out their torture implements - ahem, selection of nail polishes and brushes.

Shit. I so couldn't believe I'd agreed to letting some girl on the beach paint my toenails.

The selection of colour and little transfers was actually better than I'd thought; I wouldn't totally mind having black polish with little skulls on my big nails. Or bats.

I picked a deep blue for Heero that echoed his eyes, and his eyes shone with relief. The poor guy had obviously thought I'd pick out some uber-embarrassing girly colour. A nice bubble-gum pink maybe. Although he wasn't overly impressed by the cute little daisy I picked to adorn the nail on each big toe.

In exchange, he selected a bearable bluish-grey; Quatre would have said it was 'lavender' or something but that sounded way too feminine. I could live with bluish-grey. The actual painting wasn't too bad; one of my boyfriends has a foot fetish so I'm fairly used to people handling my feet. They looked OK when it was all over; a fairly subtle with a leaping dolphin on my big toe-nails.

Heero paid the girls, which was only fair since it had been his idea, and very firmly refused their offers of massages and hair-braiding. I guessed he could take other people handling my feet, but no way was he letting anyone else near any other part of me, particularly not my hair.

I got a deep kiss as he bent down, running his fingers over my painted nails. They'd both been very touchy-feely lately. Not that they hadn't always been, but it usually tended to be fairly subtle, especially in public. Semi-accidental touches that lingered just a little too long, that sort of thing.

Lately, they'd been a lot more - overt about it.

At first, I'd put it down to them being on holiday and just feeling relaxed; I can be pretty slow sometimes.

It took me a couple of days to figure that the change traced directly back to the night when I'd told them I'd never been raped. They'd believed, somewhere in my past, I had some sexual experience that was less than pleasant.

Once I'd reassured them that this wasn't the case, it was apparently open season on Duo.

I still wasn't sure how I felt about that. Sure, it was a relief that they'd finally taken off the kid gloves. But mixed up with that was guilt over the fact that they _had _believed I'd been abused. And yeah, just a little bit of fear.

They'd been holding back from certain things out of respect for my imagined past traumas. Now, that wasn't the case anymore, there was no real reason not to move things up to the next level.

And it was obvious they both wanted that to happen. God, I knew they'd never force me, never pressure me into anything I wasn't comfortable with, but I couldn't expect them to wait for ever.

'Duo?' I looked up from studying my toes to find Heero watching me. 'Are you OK?'

'Fine, fine.' I stood up hurriedly, hoping my blush could be attributable to suntan, thankful that mind reading isn't one of his powers. Not usually, anyway.

'Would you like to go for a walk? I've just got a text from Wufei; he's talking to the curator of the museum and he'll be a while longer. He can come and meet us later.'

'Sure.' I stood up, letting him take my hand. 'Is he having fun?'

'Of course. He's in a museum of medieval weaponry. He'll never want to leave.'

'I guess.' It had been Wufei's idea to drive along the coast and spend a couple of hours doing the tourist thing. After we'd had lunch, he'd dived into a small museum that 'just happened' to be opposite the restaurant. 'Are you sure you didn't want to go with him?'

He grinned. 'It was a tough choice to make, love. Spend the afternoon in a dusty building or spend it with you on the beach.'

'Funny, aren't you?'

'I must be absorbing your sense of humour by osmosis.'

'Ha ha.' I kicked a little spray of sand in front of me. It was something I could never get tired of; walking on sand. The dry, powdery kind that almost burnt the soles of my feet or the damp stuff where the sea had washed over it that just squelched deliciously between my toes. I loved watching my footprints too.

Absorbed in my sand-related activities, I didn't actually look up for a few minutes. We'd left the touristy beach with its families and sun-loungers and ice-cream vendors behind us; this stretch was wilder with sand dunes and rocks and most of the people stretched out on the sand or playing the waves were guys. And some of them were naked.

'Heero?'

'Duo?'

'Is this a gay beach? A gay nudist beach?'

He laughed at me. 'You must have aced all your observation classes at Preventers. Une must be so proud of you.'

'Seriously? Did you know before we got here?'

'I looked it up on line this morning. It's no big deal.'

OK, not for him, maybe. I wasn't entirely sure I was comfortable with this.

'Relax, baby. I'm not planning to drag you behind a sand dune and ravish you.'

Hum. Retract earlier comment about him being unable to read minds. He was grinning, but there was just a hint of wistfulness there, like he would be quite happy if I dragged him behind said sand dune and….whatever.

Instead, I pulled my hand away, paddling a little deeper into the water. Not too deep; my boyfriends had stopped mocking my banana-embellished swimming trunks once they realised the things were pretty damn transparent when wet. I didn't mind so much giving them a show at home, but no way was I letting anyone else see my nearly naked ass. I had far too much skin on display as it was, but the guys had left their t-shirts back in the car, and I didn't want to make an issue out of keeping mine.

'Why don't you go for a swim?' I offered, noticing he was looking longingly at the coolly glistening waves.

'Are you joking? No way am I leaving you alone on a beach full of gay guys.'

'I have this to show I'm taken, remember?' I wiggled my hand at him, letting the Claddagh ring catch the light. 'Plus I am actually capable of looking after myself, Yuy.'

I still hadn't quite figured out my attitude to their uber-possessiveness. It tended to be annoying or endearing depending on my mood and the situation. I was sort of glad of it here. I'd got used to walking around the villa naked or with just my swimming shorts.

It was different in public; I'd grown up with Solo teaching me that the only way to stay safe on the streets was to look as unappealing as possible. No one was going to look twice at a scrawny kid with filthy rags and matted hair.

The first time Sister Helen had given me a bath, I'd fought like a demon. I'd thought she was getting me all cleaned up nice for a client.

'It's not exactly like there'll be a stampede to get to me if you leave me alone for two seconds.'

'Hn.' He gave me this weird little cross between a smile and a frown. 'You constantly underrate yourself. And I have no intention of leaving you anywhere for even one second. I have you all to myself and I'm going to make the most of it. We could walk to the lighthouse, if you wanted?' He suggested, pointing to a tall, white building ahead of us.

'It's not too far?' I squinted into the sun, trying to gauge the distance. I'd been - very subtly - trying to encourage Heero to take things easy since I'd had that little chat with Wufei. I'd started noticing little things; he'd lost weight in the past couple of months and there were a few little lines around his eyes that hadn't been there before my illness.

My fault.

Heero snorted. 'I see Wufei's been telling tales. I'm perfectly fine, Duo; I may have overdone things a little over the past month or so, but he worries far too much. There was no need for him to tell you about it.'

'Huh! What's it you're always telling me? That partners should be able to confide in each other, right? I need to know this stuff, Heero.' I gave him a sudden grin. 'And I don't know where you get off complaining about Wufei worrying too much. That's a joke.'

'Well, he does worry too much,' Heero said defensively, and then his own mouth quirked, seeing the funny side of it.

'And you, sweetie, can't talk!' We walked on a bit, stopping now and then to pick up shells or bits of driftwood, and to answer a text from Wufei, who was heading to meet us. 'Heero, how did you cope when you guys first hooked up? When he started fussing over you?'

'It was difficult, at first,' he admitted. 'I'd been never had anyone care about my welfare before, only whether I was capable of achieving some mission. Then I started to realise it was just a sign that he cared about me.'

'Well, so do I.' I wound one arm around his waist, pulling him down on to the sand with me. 'Sorry, Yuy. You're just going to have to get used to the fact that there are two of us now. Both checking that you eat right and sleep properly and don't stay up all night on your laptop.'

'It sounds…terrifying.' He fell back on the sand; we'd walked way past everyone else and had a stretch of golden beach to ourselves; an unbroken swatch of curving sand lapped by gleaming water. Like a holiday brochure.

When Wufei turned up, we were sprawled on the warm sand, me with my head pillowed on his stomach and our hands entwined.

'Hey,' he smiled down at both of us, before collapsing gracefully - only Chang Wufei is capable of collapsing gracefully - beside us. 'I love the toenails. You both look beautiful. And very relaxed.'

'Mmm. Am relaxed.' It was true; we had the whole world to ourselves. An infinity of sea and sky and sunlight with not another person in sight. A whole world full of possibilities to be explored. The feelings of light and space were new; the feeling of - _possibility _wasn't new, but it was a while since I'd felt it.

The first time I'd gone into space; the first time I'd flown Deathscythe. My first kiss. The first time I'd really, truly believed that they cared about me. All times when I'd stood at the crest of something amazing that was just about to happen.

Heero is capable of utter silence, utter stillness when he wants. We'd spent almost an hour just lying in each other's arms, watching the way light played on the crest of a breaking wave, or the curve of a seagull's wing in flight, silhouetted against the burnt-blue sky.

Wufei's arrival broke the spell, just a little, and then he was curling up between us, one hand sliding up and down my braid, and the other stroking Heero's chest.

Not a couple anymore, but a threesome.

And suddenly it was the right moment.

'I have something for you guys.' The little boxes were dark green, with a golden harp embossed on each. I'd got them on our last day in Dublin, sneaking off while they'd gone to see some sort of exhibition at the museum. I'd kept them in the bottom of my backpack, waiting for the right moment. Somehow, there hadn't been the right opportunity to give them out.

Yeah, right.

There'd been plenty of opportunities. But it was a pretty big commitment, if you thought about it.

The weren't just rings; that would have been enough of a gesture in itself. I'd asked the guy in the shop to have them inscribed, and then had the same inscription put in the one they'd given me.

1+2+5=8.

'8 for infinity?' Wufei asked softly, expression utterly unreadable. Hell, I can never read either of them. Two inscrutable, unfathomable Asians.

'Um, yeah. It sort of seemed appropriate. You know?' I swallowed. Shit. Maybe they thought I was being way too presumptuous, assuming we were forever. Maybe that wasn't what they wanted at all. 'I just thought it would be a way to tell you that I really care about you guys. I'm not much good at saying it or anything but…'

'Duo, shut up.' Heero commanded. 'Infinity sounds perfect. Absolutely perfect.'

'It's not long enough,' Wufei growled, and suddenly handed me back the ring I'd given him. 'I think you're supposed to put this on my finger. And Heero's on his.'


End file.
